“Not too many people know we do mammograms right here,” said Barbara Waite-Clark. “We have the latest in digital technology right here in this hospital, and it’s a lot more comfortable and personable right here.” Waite-Clark is a Mammographer and Radiologic Technologist at CHI Mercy Health in Valley City, ND.

One in eight women in the U.S., will develop invasive breast cancer over the course of their lifetimes, Waite-Clark said, and is emphatic that women have a mammogram once a year. “The fact is that women should begin having mammograms when they turn forty,” she said, “because by the time they turn fifty, it could be too late. Breast cancer needs to be caught early. It’s not the number of women who develop breast cancer, but it’s how young they are when they do. We need to catch it early.”

CHI Mercy Health has offered mammograms for a number of years, but in Valley City this is a hidden gem of a health service offered right at the hospital. The equipment used for mammography at Mercy is all digital. The room large and private. And it all is easily accessible, especially for the handicapped.

Women should get their yearly screening from their primary caregiver, and then call as no referral is needed, to CHI Mercy Health to make an appointment. Just ask us to schedule you an appointment.

CHI Mercy Health has a host of events scheduled for Breast Cancer Awareness. Go to our Facebook page to see what’s going on during the week of Oct. 26-31.

For more information on mammography and mammograms and CHI Mercy Health, call the Radiology department at 701-845-6441. And Like us on Facebook, and follow us on Twitter for events and timely and topical health tips.